Tag: estates

INE: Mortgage Lending Rose by 9.7% in 2017

28 February 2018 – RTVE

The signing of new mortgages for the purchase of homes grew by 9.7% in 2017 with respect to the previous year and reached 310,096 contracts, whereby closing its fourth consecutive year on the rise, after falling non-stop over the previous seven years, since the start of the crisis.

According to provisional data published on Wednesday by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE), the value of all of the new mortgages constituted in 2017 amounted to €36.2 billion, up by 16.6% compared to the previous year, whilst the average amount loaned grew by 6.3% to reach €116,709.

In December alone, 20,681 new mortgage contracts were constituted to buy homes in Spain, a similar figure to the one recorded in the same month in 2016 but almost 17% lower than the figure recorded in November 2017, according to INE.

The average interest rate decreased by 13.5%

At the end of 2017, the average interest rate of mortgages constituted to purchase homes was 2.73%, down by 13.5% compared to December 2016, with an average term of 23 years.

62.5% of the residential mortgages constituted were variable rate products and 37.5% were fixed rate deals. The number of fixed-rate mortgages increased by 4.9% compared to the end of 2016.

The average interest rate at the beginning of a mortgage term is 2.54% for variable rate residential mortgages, down by 18.6% compared to a year earlier. Meanwhile, fixed-rate mortgages have an average rate of 3.13%, down by 3.5% compared to those signed a year earlier.

Greatest increases in Andalucía, Madrid and Cataluña

In terms of the distribution by autonomous region, the areas that recorded the highest number of residential mortgages constituted during 2017 were Andalucía (60,240), the Community of Madrid (56,644) and Cataluña (49.918). The regions where the most capital was lent for the constitution of mortgages were the Community of Madrid (€9.287 billion), Cataluña (€6.894 billion) and Andalucía (€5.898 billion).

The signing of mortgages to purchase homes increased in all autonomous regions last year. The greatest increases were recorded in La Rioja (up by 18.4%), the Community of Madrid (+16.6%) and Asturias (+12.4%). Meanwhile, Aragón (+0.5%), Navarra (+0.7%) and Extremadura (+2.0%) saw the lowest increases.

In addition to mortgages for buying homes, the number of mortgage loans constituted for buying estates in general also rose. In total, during the whole of last year, 429,082 mortgages were signed, up by 7% compared to 2016. The number of mortgages constituted to buy rural estates decreased by 1.6% to reach 16,485 contracts.

The total capital lent for those loans amounted to €60.7 billion, with an average mortgage ticket of €141,445 (up by 5.8%).

Original story: RTVE

Translation: Carmel Drake

Martinsa Fadesa Puts Batch Of Assets Up For Sale For €67M

5 October 2016 – Expansión

Martinsa Fadesa’s bankruptcy administrators have put a new batch of assets up for sale, under auction. The portfolio include estates, plots of land and even, several golf courses, with a combined value of, at least, €67 million. The deadline for the submission of offers will close on 3 November.

Specifically, the real estate company, which has filed for liquidation, has put the company Casasola Explotaciones Agropecuarias up for sale – it is an associate of the Martinsa Fadesa Group and the holding company owns a 48% stake in it – for a minimum price of €32.5 million. This company is the owner of several estates in the province of Valladolid, according to the website that has been created to provide information about the company’s liquidation.

In addition, the real estate company, which was controlled and chaired by Fernando Martín, has put Urbanizadora Club de Campo de Logroño up for sale, whose assets include plots of land and homes in Sojuela (La Rioja) as well as the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo, for minimum prices of €8.6 million and €162,000, respectively.

Meanwhile, the company has launched an auction for Guadalmina Golf, a company in which the holding company holds a 31.82% stake and whose main activity is the operation of three golf courses (two 18-hole courses and one 9-hole course), in the municipality of Marbella (Málaga). The minimum price to participate in the bid is €7.95 million. Martinsa Fadesa also wants to sell Inversiones Inmobiliarias Rústicas y Urbanas 2000, owner of an estate in El Molar (Madrid), for a minimum price of €17.9 million.

Martinsa Fadesa was declared insolvent in July 2008, with debt amounting to €7,000 million. The liquidation process began before the summer of 2015 after a court agreed months earlier to open this phase of the process for the real estate company and another five debtor entities.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

FCC To Sell Its Spanish RE Assets Worth €300M+

10 June 2016 – El Economista

FCC owns real estate assets worth €328 million. The company controlled by the Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is working on the sale of all of its assets located in Spain, which include housing developments, land/estates, garages and other premises. Not in vain, in the last year, FCC has strengthened its team in the real estate division, whereby converting it into a sort of real estate agency. Nevertheless, far from withdrawing from the real estate market, the Spanish multi-national wants to take advantage of the recovery in the sector to combine the construction of homes with their promotion and whereby open a new line of business.

Under the leadership of Xavier Fainé, the former CEO of Cementos Portland, FCC Real Estate is looking to generate value from its real estate assets by proceeding with their orderly sale. The progressive, albeit slow, recovery of the market in Spain and the positive outlook is helping with this task – house sales grew by 9.2% during the first quarter of the year, although the figures are still 56.9% below those registered in 2007 -. Sources at the company indicate that the real estate assets belong to FCC Construcción “and they are administered from there”.

FCC’s most valuable real estate asset is a batch of land plots/estates under development in Tres Cantos, in Madrid, with have a book value of around €120 million. Also in the capital, the company owns the Las Mercedes estate, worth around €120 million. In Barcelona, it owns land in Sant Joan Despí and Badalona, which have a combined value of €64 million. The company also owns several housing developments in Vitoria, Huelva, Pino Montano and Mairena de Aljarafe, the Oporto Industrial Estate in Sevilla, as well as flats, other premises and garages in several cities. According to FCC, the total value of these assets amounts to €328 million. However, clearly the market will dictate the final consideration it receives. (…).

Original story: El Economista (by Javier Mesones)

Translation: Carmel Drake